John O'Boyle/The Star-LedgerLee Evans sits in a courtroom waiting for paperwork after a hearing at the Essex County Courthouse in Newark on Jan. 4.

NEWARK — In August, days after posting bail and leaving the Essex County Jail, the man charged with killing five Newark teenagers 32 years ago walked into the Springfield police station.

Lee Evans told the sergeant on duty he had information, "big stuff," and needed to talk to someone at the state level. He made vague complaints about corruption in Essex County and said he was being unfairly targeted for the murders. The officer was baffled and no report was taken that day — nor the next when Evans returned and made similar allegations.

Evans later fired his attorney, claiming he was in on a conspiracy, and in recent interviews with The Star-Ledger and New York Times, reiterated the belief he was being wrongfully prosecuted and that forces, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker, had aligned against him.

Citing those recent statements and actions, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office took the unusual step today of filing a motion in Superior Court in Newark to compel Evans to undergo a mental competency exam before he stands trial.

Judge Patricia Costello will rule on the motion next month.

Evans, 57, and his cousin, Philander Hampton, 54, are charged with murder and arson in the Aug. 20, 1978, deaths of the five Newark teenagers, who had long been considered missing. Prosecutors say the two men lured the boys into a vacant house on Camden Street, locked them in a closet, then set the house on fire. The bodies of Randy Johnson, Alvin Turner and Michael McDowell, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found.

In November 2008, Hampton gave police a statement in which he admitted to taking part in the killing, but said Evans orchestrated it, as payback for a pound of marijuana the boys allegedly stole. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

In a four-page brief filed today, Assistant Prosecutor Peter Guarino supported his request for a mental evaluation by citing Evans’ "strong beliefs that there are vast conspiracies in play attempting to wrongfully convict him of murders he did not commit."

Evans may be "incapable of discerning his unsubstantiated fears, anxieties and paranoid beliefs from reality," and therefore unable to assist in his own defense, Guarino wrote.

Two criminal defense attorneys called the motion highly unusual, saying a defendant’s competency is ordinarily raised by the defense to avoid trial.

"It appears to be an extraordinary request," said Ralph Lamparello, a criminal trial lawyer and former assistant prosecutor in Bergen County. Lamparello said the prosecution might be trying to get ahead of the curve by knocking down any issue of competency.

"Or, they might really have misgivings about his ability to stand trial. If that’s the case, they should have made a joint application with the defense."

That did not happen.

Rubin Sinins, a criminal defense lawyer in Newark, also called it a "highly unusual tactic."

"If I were a prosecutor, the last thing in the world I would want is potential statements a defendant made, potential admissions, to be inadmissible at trial," he said.

But, Guarino said, the request was warranted because "we think that his (Evans’) behavior is a little on the bizarre side" and it was the state’s responsibility to present the issue to the judge.

"A prosecutor’s job is to seek justice not merely convictions," he said, stealing an oft quoted line from Evans’ former defense attorney, Michael Robbins.

Evans’ lawyer, Olubukola Adetula, said he is "in the process of reviewing the state’s application and we will respond to it accordingly." He would not comment further.

Evans, however, had much more to share.

Speaking today by phone, Evans said he was fit to stand trial and that he has evidence to support his allegations.

"All this here is just playing a part of what they call ‘theories’ coming into reality," said Evans, who has shared with reporters hundreds of documents related to his case. "If no one can see what’s going on, then it’s not for me to even say. You know, I mean one thing’s going to lead to another ... I’m not just saying things just to be saying it. My things can be backed up and proven. Ain’t no theory, I’m saying. I’m not dealing with theory."